Disparity in tertiary education facilities

I refer to Disparity in tertiary education facilities on TODAYonline, by Kwek Jian Liang. It’s an interesting article and perspective. The writer is a JC student who bemoans that ITE facilities appear to be more lavish than what we get in most JCs.

The writer is young, and perhaps a little simplistic in his views. It doesn’t immediately occur to him, for instance, that the ITE campuses might be ‘superior’ simply because they’re a lot newer, and not because of any particular bias, which I think he implies that he might be a victim of.

NCMP Yee Jenn Jong has a great response to the article, which is balanced, mature and thoughtful. He writes:

My post is not to condemn Kwek for his letter. I see it as a brave attempt by a young man to ask for better resources for JCs and polytechnics. I am concerned about an attitude trend in society which seems to be highlighted by his letter. Today, we speak of character and values-based education. I see Kwek’s letter as a signal that we need to work harder on this aspect to cultivate empathy, appreciation and resilience in our youths.

Not everyone is as mature as Jenn Jong, though. Most responses are venomous. I don’t need to give examples- you already know what people can be like when they see someone saying or doing something that can be perceived in a negative light. He’s accused of being an uncaring elitist, childish and immature and many other things.

Essentially, he’s being used as a scapegoat for people to unload all their anger and frustration on. Frustration with what appears to be an unfair system, an undesirable status quo where unenlightened and socially irresponsible individuals seem to be able to succeed at the economic rat race. Frustration which is understandable and justified. What isn’t so justified, though, is the way in which many of us choose to express this frustration- which is by lashing out at scapegoats.

Here’s the deal- lashing out at people who do or say things that we don’t like isn’t going to change anything. In fact, it most probably makes things even worse, because it typically makes people defensive. Think about it- when was the last time you changed someone’s mind about things by attacking their views and bombarding them with insults? I don’t know about you, but it’s never been a very effective strategy for me.

Let’s take a look at Jian Qiang’s response to his haters:

“Hi guys, I’ve read through your comments and what I’ll like to say here is that: you’re right. I was indeed too naive, biased and too consumed by materialism.

However, what I’ll like to say was that this article was never meant to be a personal attack against ITE students, in fact, a few of my most inspiring friends and mentors hailed from ITE and up till today, I still cheirsh them for who they are. In fact, it was a teacher who came from ITE who motivated me to keep on improving and never give up on myself. It was due to my jealousy and materialism that in my mind, I only saw the shiny buildings and all I could do is moan of why I cannot get to enjoy studying in such facilities, I was wrong.

To give an introduction about myself, I’m not a foreigner. In fact, I come from a low middle income bordering on poor. Everyday, I only have sufficient money to buy food, my notes as well as pay for my transport, and I never had the chance to own a lot of material goods that others get to enjoy. Hence, in me bred a sense of injustice, why do people have things I didn’t have, hence leading to this incident today. Moreover, I was also brought up in an environment where grades are everything. Since young, people around me have been telling me that only good results will get me through in life, and that ITEs represent ‘Its The End’. With such an incorrect mentality unchecked, I had incorrect stereotypes.

As such, I’ll like to sincerely apologise for any insult or anger that anyone felt regarding what I have written. Thank you for helping me to realise my mistake, thank you for helping set my moral compass right, thank you for helping me wake up. I will repent and not commit to such mentalities again. Please do give me a chance to do so.”

- Kwek Jian Qiang

Does that response satisfy you? For many people, it doesn’t. Because they’ve already made up their minds about what sort of person Jian Qiang must be, even though they’ve never met him.

It could be narcissism, obnoxiousness, ignorance or plain idiocy- but living a life in the public eye isn’t easy to do, because no matter WHAT you do, there will be someone somewhere who will find a way to interpret your actions in a way that is negative.

If he apologizes, he’s doing it just to please us. If he doesn’t, he’s stuck up. There’s no way out. He’s going to get shot whatever he does. This (in my opinion) usually discourages people from standing up for fear of being hammered down.

Personally, I encourage anybody who dares to step forward into the fray and take the bullets left-right-center- because if you have the heart to stand wanton and often unjustified criticism, then you have an opportunity to learn and grow as a person, and the resulting conversations, if open-minded, are good things for everyone.

At the end of the day, none of us really know him. He may or may not be for real. He could be getting some sort of perverted kick out of the attention. But I doubt it. I think people are usually more complex than that, that we usually have many competing (and not always conflicting) motivations for our words and actions.

I’m not sure who’s right or wrong, and whether he’s a coward or a hero, but what I do know is that I’d like to be part of a world where everyone tries to help everyone else to learn, because we’re all broken and we all make mistakes.

In times like these, we learn more about the people doing the criticizing than the person being criticized.